Title: Anywhere for You by Abbie Greaves
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Length: 364 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
A poignant and thrilling love story about one woman’s decade-long search to reconnect with the love of her life who disappeared without a trace—a stirring and heartfelt page-turner from the critically acclaimed author of The Silent Treatment.
The straphangers of Ealing Broadway station are familiar with Mary O’Connor, the woman who appears every day to watch the droves of busy commuters. But Mary never asks anything from anyone. She only holds out a sign bearing a heartrending message: Come Home Jim.
While others pass her by without a thought, Alice, a junior reporter at the Ealing Bugle, asks Mary to tell her story. Many years ago, Mary met the charming and romantic Jim Whitnell. She was certain she’d found her other half, until one day he vanished without any explanation. But Mary believes that Jim isn’t a cad, that he truly loved her and will return—especially because she’s recently received grainy phone calls from him saying he misses her.
Touched but also suspicious, Alice quietly begins her own investigation into Jim’s disappearance, unraveling a decade-long story filled with desire, heartbreak, and hope. With Greaves’s signature warmth and charm, Anywhere for You is a romantic and immensely moving novel about the enduring power of love and finding happiness in unexpected places.
Review:
Anywhere for You by Abbie Greaves is a poignant novel of friendship and healing.
In 2005, Mary O’Connor is swept off her feet by ENT doctor Jim Whitnell. Their unexpected romance is initially complicated due to distance-Mary lives in Ireland and Jim in London. After a flurry of short but passionate get togethers, Jim asks Mary to move in with him. Leaving behind her family is not easy, but Mary is so in love with Jim that she eagerly agrees. Over the course of their six-year relationship, Mary embarks on a successful career and their relationship goes through a series of highs and lows. But their romance comes to a shocking conclusion and Mary spends the next seven years standing outside the Ealing Broadway Station with a sign that will hopefully convince Jim to return.
By 2018, Mary is living a very small life where she goes to work, volunteers at a helpline two days a week and stands outside the station with her sign. One night, a video of her goes viral and investigative journalist Alice Keaton decides to try to find Jim. Alice helps Mary calm down the night she is filmed and she knows she can help her new acquaintance find some peace. She is aided by Kit Ripton who also volunteers at the helpline with Mary. Alice also has an ulterior motive for helping Mary, but she keeps this under wraps as she and Kit follow leads that will hopefully help them locate Jim.
Mary is so very in love with Jim that she does not notice how little they socialize with anyone. Of course, she does not know anyone in London and she is uncomfortable with Jim’s friends and parents. Through her eyes, her six-year relationship is perfect and she never gives up hope he will return to her. Mary is also wracked with guilt over their last interaction before he vanishes from her life. How will she react when Alice confesses what she and Kit have been doing?
Anywhere for You is a captivating novel that seamlessly weaves between the present and Mary’s six-year relationship with Jim. The various characters are beautifully developed with wonderful qualities and relatable flaws. The story arcs are well-executed and easily move between Mary’s life in the present and her years with Jim in the past. She and the other characters undergo believable growth as they make peace with their respective emotional baggage. With a heartwarming epilogue, Abbie Greaves brings this sometimes bittersweet novel to an uplifting, satisfying conclusion. I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend this heartfelt novel.
